Valérie Lavoix is a lecturer in classical Chinese language and literature at Inalco, a full member of IFRAE (UMR 8043) and an associate member of CRCAO (UMR 8155). In addition to her work on literary criticism (Wenxin diaolong, ‘Spirit of literature in chiselled dragon’) and poetry (fu, poetic exposition or rhapsody) in early medieval China (3rd-6th century), she has published on the socio-cultural history and lay Buddhism of the period ‘La contribution des laïcs au végétarisme: croisades et polémiques en Chine du Sud autour de l'an 500’ (in C. Despeux, Bouddhisme et lettrés dans la Chine médiévale, 2002), and ‘À l'école des collines - L'enseignement des lettrés reclus sous les Dynasties du Sud’ (in C. Nguyen Tri and C. Despeux, Éducation et instruction en Chine (vol.3), Aux marges de l'orthodoxie, 2004).